Converting your car to LPG

01.Converting your car to LPG

Currently, there are about 500,000 vehicles (including taxis) on our roads that run with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — that’s about 5% of all cars. And the rising petrol prices combined with the new Government rebate are likely to make more people think about converting.

LPG costs less than half as much as unleaded petrol. Whether that’s enough to recover the conversion costs in an acceptable time depends on your individual situation - do your own calculation.

Pros and cons of converting

Pros

LPG is better for the environment. Compared to unleaded petrol, it creates about:

• 15-20% less greenhouse gases.
• 30-40% less volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen.
• 50-60% less carbon monoxide.
• 80% less toxic air pollutants such as benzene and sulphur oxides. 

Cons

 There are disadvantages and inconveniences you should consider before converting your car:

• In passenger cars, the additional LPG tank takes up space in your car’s boot. In 4WDs, the tank is usually installed under the car.
• On older cars, there may be a slight loss of power, mainly under heavy loads such as when towing or driving uphill.
• You should be able to travel around Australia and find LPG refill stations in most places, though you might have to search a little more — there are about 3200 LPG stations, compared to more than 8000 petrol stations. Check their locations on www.nowwhereroute.com. If you convert to dual-fuel mode, you can of course always use petrol if you can’t find an LPG outlet.
• It may be more difficult to find a garage that can service your car.

More information

For more information on LPG, see the LPG Australia and LPG Autogas websites.